RIO DE JANEIRO—Thomas Di Benedetti’s Facebook posting began like this, “I am currently in a struggle.”

That struggle, he went on to explain, is to complete his World Cup sticker album, which the French-Italian entrepreneur says has been an obsession for him since March. About 89% of his booklet—it boasts photos of each player for the 32 nations in the tournament plus one of the team, flag and stadiums in Brazil—is full. “I am desperate to complete it,” he said.

As the World Cup’s finale fast approaches, soccer fans in Rio de Janeiro—and the world over—are rushing to finish their sticker album, often referred to as Panini albums for its publisher. In Rio, several malls have designated specific areas for swapping stickers. Trade is brisk on street corners, park benches and even bars, in both ritzy areas and working-class neighborhoods. The virtual world is packed with Panini swap talk.

Demand for stickers considered precious has prompted a black-market rate to blossom. The sticker of Brazilian soccer star Neymar is going for the equivalent of $10 dollars in Rio. Meanwhile, a packet of five stickers costs just 45 cents.

“Surely there are people out there who can help me achieve this life goal” of completing my album, Mr. Di Benedetti wrote on a Facebook page that foreigners in Rio normally visit to buy and sell items like refrigerators and beds. He invited others hunting for missing stickers to meet Thursday morning at a designated bench on the Copacabana beach boardwalk to swap stickers. Those who came formed a multicultural, multigenerational ensemble of collectors.

Yiannis Chanis of Greece showed up with a bundle of duplicates and a printout listing the numbers for the stickers he still needed and the ones he wanted to trade. “I’ve been doing this album since my childhood,” said the engineer in his 30s, who works in Rio’s oil sector. He barely looked up from the Uruguay page, where he was affixing two stickers.

Milo Gragione, six years old, biked over with his mother, Florence. The French boy said he still had 178 out of about 640 stickers missing. “My mother went on the internet to find where we could trade,” he said.

Parican Rabot of Indonesia was there on behalf of her 10-year-old daughter, Juliette.

And Jennifer Evans, in her 20s, doled out stickers from a pile she had to give away “because my husband has finished his and we have many extras.”

They were all there hoping to complete their albums before the final on July 13, as no one wanted to be left looking for that elusive sticker of Nigeria’s substitute goalkeeper once the tournament was over.

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